Bristol City Council (23 011 852)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 09 Nov 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a penalty charge notice as Mr X had the right to appeal against it to the independent tribunal.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about a bus lane penalty charge notice (PCN) the Council issued to him. Mr X wants the Ombudsman to challenge the decision.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We cannot challenge PCNs but Parliament has provided an appeal mechanism to do so that Mr X could have reasonably used, which culminates in an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT). As such, we will not investigate.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he had the right to appeal against the PCN to the TPT.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman